‘True Blood’ Final Season Adds ‘Bunheads’ Star to Replace Luke Grimes

A few weeks ago we were surprised to learn that relatively recent 'True Blood' addition Luke Grimes would depart the series in advance of reprising his series regular role as Jessica's vampire paramour, James. Despite the commotion, however, a replacement has been found. 'Bunheads' alum Nathan Parsons will step in for the role of James, but what might have caused Grimes to exit the role?

News of Parsons' casting comes from TVLine, which adds that the 'Bunheads' and 'General Hospital' alum will take the regular role in the final season, wherein James will purportedly find himself in the midst of "a surprising love triangle." Whether or not said triangle provided the reason for Grimes' surprise exit from the HBO vampire soap remains to be seen.

Sources on Grimes departure wouldn't specify the exact reasoning, only offering that "the role of James is being recast due to the creative direction of the character.” Reportedly, Grimes initially agreed to a series regular role in the final season to work alongside former co-star Deborah Ann Woll, “but when he started reading the scripts for season 7, he was disappointed to learn that they were going in a completely different direction with James.”

Elsewhere, we know of ‘True Blood’ season 7 that Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard) will indeed return, despite a seemingly fiery end teased in the season 6 finale. Storytelling will shrink to see more direct human-vampire relationships in light of the Hepatitis V threat, while more details and series regular ascensions have been outlined in our guide to ‘True Blood”s final season.

Well, what do we think? Does Parsons make an acceptable replacement as James, or had the character not been around long enough for Grimes' role to resonate? Tell us what you want to see when 'True Blood' airs its seventh and final season this coming summer!